The Cleveland Guardians were one out shy of scoring an exciting come-from-behind win on Monday and extending their lead in the AL Central to two games. Instead, they suffered a walk-off 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox in their series opener.
The White Sox, now 40-37, are in a virtual tie with the 41-38 Guardians after winning the game on a Sam Antonacci walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth with two outs at Rate Field.
Tough loss.#GuardsBall | #VoteGuards pic.twitter.com/5gnUa4HE0I
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 23, 2026
Austin Hedges had already warned that these White Sox were going to be a problem. And he meant it.
The Pale Hose struck first in the second frame. Rookie Braden Montgomery drove in Chase Meidroth with a double against Guardians starter Gavin Williams, who ended up getting a no-decision after surrendering two runs in five innings. He walked one and struck out eight.
That second run that Williams allowed came in the third frame, with Andrew Benintendi punching an RBI single that plated Antonacci. It was 2-0 Chicago at that point.
Randal Grichuk homered against Guardians reliever Tim Herrin in the sixth, giving the White Sox their third run. Chicago got a phenomenal start by left-hander Anthony Kay, who held Cleveland scoreless for six frames and struck out eight.
With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh, rookie Khalil Watson laced a two-run single that scored Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann and made things very, very interesting in Chicago. More drama would come after Watson stole second base to put runners at second and third with one out.
Brayan Rocchio struck out, but then Rhys Hoskins came through with a game-tying single that scored Travis Bazzana from third base. Unfortunately, the joy wouldn’t last long in the Guardians’ dugout.
Antonacci drove in Montgomery with a go-ahead single in the bottom of the seventh, then stole second and third base. Shawn Armstrong struck out Miguel Vargas to stop the bleeding.
The Bazzana show started at the top of the ninth. He walked to begin the inning, then stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch by Seranthony Dominguez. He scored the tying run on Patrick Bailey’s single.
Rocchio hit a double that sent Bailey to third with no outs. Hoskins went down on strikes, but then Kyle Manzardo hit a sac fly to score Bailey with the go-ahead run. The runner was initially called out, but it was overruled upon review.
Closer Cade Smith had already thrown a perfect eighth, but manager Stephen Vogt decided to use him to protect the one-run lead in the ninth. He got Meidroth to fly out, but then walked Montgomery and allowed a one-out double to Tristan Peters to put two runners in scoring position.
The double wasn’t hit particularly hard: it was just bad luck, as it left Peters’ bat at 59 mph and had a .180 xBA (expected batting average).
After striking out Jacob Gonzalez, Smith was one out away from putting out the fire and notching the win for his team. Instead, Antonacci went hunting on a high fastball, out of the zone, and punched his game-winning single.
The two teams will do it again on Tuesday, with Parker Messick facing Sean Burke starting at 7:40 pm ET.
NEXT: Stephen Vogt Offers Important Chase DeLauter Update
